An Analysis of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Elements of "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant

            The Necklace is a short story written by Guy de Maupassant in the 19th century. The story starts with the narrator introducing the main character, Mathilde, who is pretty and charming but unsatisfied with the life she has. Even though she has a husband with a steady job, living in a flat with some functional furniture, good foods, and a servant to do all the housework, she still wants more. She believes that she deserves a better life over the one she already has. One day, her husband surprise Mathilde with an invitation to a ball held by The Minister of Public Instruction, but instead of being delighted as her husband had hoped, she gets sad because she thinks she does not have a suitable gown to wear. Her husband then gives her four hundred francs from his savings to buy a new gown for the ball,  but another problem comes up because Mathilde has no jewelry to put on. Her husband suggests her to wear natural flowers as an ornament but Mathilde thinks wearing flowers will only make her look poor among other women.

            Afterward, according to her husband’s order, Mathilde decides to borrow some jewelry from her friend, Madame Forestier. She tries many pieces of jewelries and ornaments but ended up choosing a superb diamond necklace to borrow. Mathilde then attends the ball with a great confident and a big smile on her face, she feels so happy because many attaches of the cabinet wish to dance with her. She later comes home with her husband and finds out that she lost the diamond necklace. Mathilde and her husband try to search everywhere but they can not find it, so they quickly try to replace it with a new one and find a similar necklace that costs thirty-six thousand francs. They sell everything they own and file many loans at high-interest rates to pay for the necklace.

            The story ends as Mathilde meets Madame Forestier, who barely recognize her, ten years later. Mathilde then tells Madame Forestier how she works hard and lives in poverty in the past ten years because she lost the diamond necklace and replaced it with a new one. Madame Forestier then takes her hand and explains that the necklace was fake and does not worth more than five hundred francs.

Intrinsic Elements

1.      Plot

a.      Introduction

The story began with the introduction of the main character, Mathilde, and all of her personality. The narrator described her as a “pretty and charming young creature” who was unhappy with her life because she believed that she was born to “enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries”. Even though she already lived in a middle-class family and had everything she needs, she was still unsatisfied with her condition and fancying about having luxury furniture, pretty gowns, expensive jewelry, dainty dinner, and shining silverware.

b.      Raising Action

Mathilde’s personality later caused many conflicts in her life. Instead of being grateful for being invited to the ball, she grieved and cried because she did not have a proper gown to wear. After her husband gave her money to buy a new gown, another problem arose when she said:

It annoys me not to have a single piece of jewelry, not a single ornament, nothing to put on. I shall look poverty-stricken. I would almost not go at all (Maupassant, 1884).

It implies how dramatical Mathilde is, she will always find a little flaw in her life to complain about. She believed that only luxury items will make her look prettier and elegant. That is why she decided to borrow a necklace from her friend, Madame Forestier.

c.       Climax

The climax took place when Mathilde realized that “she no longer had the necklace around her neck.” She and her husband had searched everywhere but the necklace was nowhere to be found. They then decided to quickly replace the necklace with a new one. It can be seen in the quotation below:

They found, in a shop at the Palais Royal, a string of diamonds that seemed to them exactly like the one they had lost. It was worth forty thousand francs. They could have it for thirty-six (Maupassant, 1884).

Mathilde and her husband had to dismiss their servant, sell everything they own and file so many loans to pay the necklace. They spend the next ten years of their life working day and night, living in poverty to pay off their debt.

d.      Falling Action

The conflict began to solved when Mathilde and her husband finally pay off all of their debt, “they had paid everything... with the rates of usury and the accumulations of the compound interest” and all of the hard work made Mathilde looked old.

e.       Resolution

The story ended as Mathilde told Madame Forestier the truth about the necklace. She said:

“Well, I lost it.”

“What do you mean? You brought it back.”

“I brought you back another exactly like it. And it has taken us ten years to pay for it. You can understand that it was not easy for us, for us who had nothing. At last it is ended, and I am very glad” (Maupassant, 1884).

Madame Forestier took Mathilde’s hands and told her that the necklace was fake and it was worth not more than five hundred francs.

2.      Characters

a.       Mathilde Loisel, the main character who lives a middle-class lifestyle but feels unsatisfied with her life. She is obsessed to live a luxury life, including glamourous gowns, expensive jewelry, fancy furniture, and shining silverware.

b.      Monsieur Loisel, is Mathilde’s husband who works as a clerk in the Ministry of Public Instruction.

c.       Madame Forestier, she is Mathilde’s wealthy friend who lends her the diamond necklace.

3.      Setting

a.       Setting of place

In general, the story took place in Paris, France. The story is set in the Monsieur Loisel’s house, Madame Forestier’s house, The Champs Elysees, etc. It can be seen in some quotations below:

But one evening her husband reached home with a triumphant air and holding a large envelope in his hand.

The next day she went to her friend and told her of her distress.

But one Sunday, having gone to take a walk in the Champs Elysees to refresh herself after the labors of the week, she suddenly perceived a woman who was leading a child. It was Madame Forestier, still young, still beautiful, still charming (Maupassant, 1884).

b.      Setting of time

The setting of time was not stated in the story but it can be concluded that the story represents life in the 19th century because Mathilde and Madame Forestier were still communicating through a letter. It can be seen in the quotation below:

“You must write to your friend”said he, “that you have broken the clasp of her necklace and that you are having it mended. That will give us time to turn round.”

She wrote at his dictation (Maupassant, 1884).

c.       Atmosphere

The story spreads gloomy and miserable vibes to the reader. It illustrates the irony of how Mathilde and her husband decided to replace the fake diamond necklace with a real one, which later makes them have to work very hard and live in poverty for a decade before successfully paying off all of their debt. Imagine how their life would be if only Mathilde told Madame Forestier the truth; that she lost the necklace, and perhaps Mathilde and her husband would not need to suffer for ten years of their life just because of a single lie.

4.      Point of view

The author of the story uses a third-person point of view or omniscient narrator, so the narrator knows everything that is happened in the story, especially the thoughts and feelings of the main character, Mathilde.

5.      Theme

The theme of this short story is symbolized by the title, the necklace. It represents everything that Mathilde wants and does not have; all the material things of a finer life. For her, the diamond necklace is the most wonderful piece of jewelry that she has ever seen and she thinks if she wears it, the diamond necklace would give her the aura of wealth that she is always wanted, but in reality, the necklace was fake. It reflects how people should not judge something based on the looks nor by the cost of a certain thing.

Extrinsic Elements

In my perspective, this story is trying to convey a moral value about being ungrateful. Madame Mathilde Loisel believes that she deserves a better life over the one she already has; “she feels like she had really fallen from a higher station” and does not belong to this kind of lifestyle. She forgets to live her life, too busy complaining about how miserable her life is, and suffering from the fact that all of her dreams about luxurious life would not come true.

The conflict of the story also causes by her inability to be thankful for everything. She does not care about how hard, how difficult it was for her husband to get an invitation to the ball at the palace, and instead of saying “thank you”, she ended up throwing the invitation on the table and start complaining, again, about how she does not have a suitable gown. She later got the gown, but then she starts ranting about having no jewelry, no ornament to put on. She could easily buy natural flowers like her husband’s recommendation, but in her mind, everything is only valuable if it is expensive, so she finally decided to borrow a diamond necklace from her wealthy friend, Madame Forestier. A decision that made her lost a decade of her life trying to pay off a debt that was originally unneeded.

The author also implies the idea of true love in this story. Monsieur Loisel loves Mathilde enough until he is willing to go through great trouble to get an invitation to the ball, which Mathilde loves. He put his wife's will above his own as seen in the quotation below:

He was laying aside just that amount to buy a gun and treat himself to a little shooting...

But he said “Very well. I will give you four hundred francs and try to have a pretty gown” (Maupassant, 1884).

Monsieur Loisel’s knows that his wife loves fancy things and he tries his best to provide what she needs because he loves her, even if it means he has to postpone his wishes.

Another issue reflected from the story is about natural beauty. At the ball, Mathilde feels so happy and confident because she thinks that the necklace she borrows from her friend is made of real diamonds. She believes that since Madame Forestier is wealthy, she only buys the best.  Mathilde thinks all the men look at her, ask her name and “wish to waltz with her” because she looks rich. She spends so much time convincing herself that possesions only have value if they are expensive that she loses sight of the real value of things. Mathilde fails to realize that beauty is not about how much her gown costs, the price of the jewelry she wears or her social status. She still looks beautiful and attractive even though she was wearing a fake diamond necklace.

Last but not least, the most important issue that can be concluded from this short story is about honesty. Mathilde and her husband had to suffer because they lied to Madame Forestier, they told her that “[Mathilde] have broken the clasp of her necklace and that [Mathilde is] having it mended.” If only they tell Madame Forestier the truth, they would only need to pay not more than five hundreds francs, instead of thirty-six thousand francs, to replace the necklace.

(The analysis was written by me to be submitted as an assignment for Literary Appreciation Class, English Department, University of Pamulang)